Big Shrimp

Took a road trip down south to a different state.  I live in Queensland and I went down to New South Wales (this was a big deal to me), haha.

Saw this big shrimp and had to stop to take it's picture--can't say I've ever seen a shrimp this big in my entire life!

This was a beach that I stopped at that was half way to my destination in a town called Currumbin.  Since it's winter the water was a little cold, so I just walked along the beach.  

Went to some markets in Bangalow which someone had recommended.  Lots of vendors, people to watch and good food to eat.  On my way home I got stopped at my first ever sobriety check.  I had to count from 1-10 into this machine and then I was off on my merry way.  Unfortunately there was a line of cars of folks that didn't pass, not such a great day for them:( 

Random Stuff

Thought I would share some random things with you!

Sorry this is a little blurry.  I took it as the car was in motion, but this is a sign you would NEVER see in the States.  We might see deer or moose crossing signs but not koala or kangaroo crossing.  How cool is that?!

Apparently I go to the movies so much that they've upgraded me to VIP status.  I got a card with my name on it and one of the benefits is endless popcorn refills, sweet! 

Finally found a Mexican restaurant that has homemade chips and salsa that is comparable to the salsa back home.  Only took about 6 tries, but I finally found a place, yippee!  I still had to pay like $10 for this and this was all I got, but I was pretty gosh darn happy:)

I referred someone at work to my gym so I got to put my name in a drawing that they are having that has really cool prizes, hope I win!  As you can see I was pretty pumped to put my name in--fingers crossed my piece of paper gets pulled out!

Lipton Tea Bikes

Friday night I got to go to my first Broadway play over here which I couldn't wait for.  I saw We Will Rock You which was the music of Queen.  It was...wait for it....FANTASTIC!!!  The crowd was totally into the show, singing and dancing in their seats.  It was really funny and the singers were extremely talented!  Such a lovely evening out:)

Saturday there was a big centennial celebration for work out at the RAAF Air Force Base so headed out there for the day. 

Brian, me, Mehnaz and Dave with an F/A-18 behind us (gotta support our local STL product), haha.

Went inside a C-17 and above the seats were these bags--made me laugh that they'd have barf bags on this plane.  I always check for the barf bags when I get on a plane!

This is a C-17 in the background with a cool 100 sign they had that you could take a picture with.  Dave is the front and Brian and I are behind (I of course had to do something fun and get in the middle of the 0), haha.

Sunday went for a bike ride on these bikes that are all around town.  I call them the Lipton Tea bikes because that is the logo on them.  Felt like Dorothy riding it because of the basket on the front, ha!

You can see the city behind me.  It was an overcast day, so it was perfect for riding!  

Medieval Festival + Mt. Barney Hike

A co-worker of mine does medieval reenactments and he told us a few months ago about a big festival that was coming up.  I thought it sounded like fun so I sent out an e-mail and got a group of us excited about going so we went and purchased our tickets in advance so we wouldn't miss out.  The festival was called the Abbey Midieval Festival and they were expecting something like 17,000 people to attend each day (it was Saturday and Sunday).

This is the castle where we watched a lot of the events at.

This was the opening parade where each of the groups walked by in all of their getup.

This was Turkish oil wrestling.  They covered themselves in olive oil and wrestled.  This was one of the events I wanted to watch;)

We went to a jousting match which was really fun to watch.  I think it's probably a lot harder than it looks.

This is my co-worker Nigel in his tent that he made.  It was very impressive!  They had a bunch of little villages that you could walk through and learn about different things.

There was a cannon that they shot off and they warned us that it would be loud, but I had no idea--it was so loud my ears were ringing afterwards.

We all agreed that it was a lot of fun and it reminded me of my favorite show Game of Thrones, haha!

Sunday I woke up early and headed 1 1/2 hours south to Mt. Barney to go hiking.  Someone at work had recommended it so I added it to my list of things to do.

The scenery started out like this through what I would call a pasture.

Then it went through a rainforest.  The temperature changed drastically, it was probably 5-10 degrees cooler in the rainforest.  

At one point I came across this.....I decided to just walk through the water and let my shoes and socks air dry as I kept going.  

Saw a few mountains in the distance at one of the peaks I walked up.

Driving back to Brisbane I pulled over because I saw this....I said what in the world is this, it looked like a cow and a camel in one.  I asked at work today and come to find out it's a Braham cow.  I have never seen one of these in the States--totally awesome if you ask me.  I thought he had scoliosis or something, haha.   

Another fun weekend Down Under!

Lots of Balls

Woke up on Saturday, went to the fat burning session at the gym, and then off to the driving range to hit some balls!

Had to practice for the game of golf I was going to play on Sunday.

Had a few hours to kill before my evening plans so I decided to catch some rays.

I will inform you that it is illegal to tan in a tanning booth in Brisbane (they don't even have them), so I made my own tanning booth on my balcony.  I only get rays for a few hours in the am before the sun goes behind some buildings so I have to catch it at the right time.  I don't want to lose my tan from vacation, so I gotta do what I gotta do.  

Saturday night met up with some friends and went to the Eat Street Markets.  Think of a festival with ALL food--it was a foodie's dream come true!  I decided on the Greek stand and got a lamb kabob and a chicken kabob.  I've been on a health kick lately so I went light on the dessert.

Decided on a mini alcohol infused cupcake.  I chose an orange one and you push the little syringe and it infuses the cupcake with alcohol.  You had to be 18 in order to buy one (that is the drinking age here).  Let me just say, it was fantastic and I was quite impressed with the concept!  Such a fun night out--thanks for suggesting the idea Claire:)

Brad, me, Ross, Debbie, Dave & Claire

Sunday was the big day of golf.  Headed to the town of The Gap (I shit you not).  For proof I took a picture off of my phone of the weather.  I also wanted my Gap buddies to see this fun town that exists in Australia! 

Dave, Brian, me, Ross and Brad

Since there were 5 of us we split into teams.  Brian and Brad vs Dave, myself and Ross.  We still did a scramble so we could keep the game going at a steady pace.  I will let you know that we used my ball on more than one occasion (remember how I told you I was Tiger back in his days of glory), well I wasn't kidding (well....kinda) ;) 

I am not the best golfer, but I can hit the ball and it's a lot of fun.  I have already contacted a few friends back home to play when I get back.  I have clubs, might as well use them--right?!  I will have to go shopping for some actual golf attire though-ha!

Another fun filled weekend in the town of Brisbane!